Seoul 11.12 - One Chicken

The first meal John and I had was 닭한마리, which literally translates to "Chicken One," or "One Chicken."

I had read about this dish, and found one of the best spots to try it. I don't even know how to say the name of the shop, but I had a photo of the storefront that I saw, and a few directions written down, and I found the place!


This restaurant is in the Dongdaemun area, and the easiest way for me to find it was to find Doota first, which  should be fairly easy, since it's among the busiest and hottest spots in Dongdaemun.



John and I walked past Doota, and toward Cheonggyecheon (the river). Made a left turn as soon as Cheonggyecheon is in sight, and took a right turn (cross) at the first bridge. After crossing the bridge, we turned left on the first little street and walked past a couple One Chicken places, and then we saw THE signage (with the lady who started the shop on it) ! I knew we were at the right place. 


We were sent to the second floor of the restaurant when we walked in. I didn't even think I made an order, but I simply said "for two." 

Very soon our "One Chicken" came! It was a small chicken, with a potato stuck on its back. 



A server lady came by to help us with the chicken. The chicken was only half-way cooked, so it would be a little while before we could eat it, but at the mean time the server lady instructed us to cook the "rice logs" (like toppokki) and started eating those first.



And you might have been thinking, since neither John or myself speak Korean, how did we manage to understand the server lady? Simple enough. The lady came by our table, and started talking, and as soon as she realized we didn't speak Korean, she started using both Japanese and Mandarin to speak. Since I responded to both Japanese and Mandarin, she asked if Mandarin was ok, and I said yes. And from then on she was using Mandarin the rest of our "One Chicken" eating journey. 

There were some Japanese girls who sat next to us, and the same language method was used and everyone was happy! (One of the Japanese girls did speak fluent Korean though.)



After a little while the server lady came back and started cutting up the chicken for us. 



She then helped me to put together a dipping sauce mixture. She explained how the chili, vinegar, and soy sauce would go together, and if I liked what she made then I could make more just like it.


  

John making his dipping sauce.

The rice logs were super soft, chewy, and tasty, and the chicken, even though tiny, was absolutely delicious. We added all the chopped garlic on a side dish into the broth, per the server lady's suggestion, and it was oh so yummy. The kimchi was in a giant tub and it was self-served, so I got a big bowl, and added some of the kimchi into the soup after we had tasted its "original" flavors. The chicken itself was tender and flavorful. It was yuuuummmmy!

And of course I forgot to take more pictures because I was busy eating the yummy chicken.

So I say next time you're in Korea, either visit this wonderful "One Chicken" shop, or find a great "One Chicken" shop and try it out yourself. mmmmm.

it's like an upside-down chicken pot pie

So you'd put two cans of thick and chunky soup (chicken based) in the casserole, and top it with biscuits dough pieces (I dropped mine with a spoon,) and bake it in a hot over (350F sounds good) for about 30 minutes, and voila! Yummy and quick dinner casserole bake.

And I think this tastes like an upside-down chicken pot pie, even though in theory it's more of a chicken and biscuit/dumpling bake.

i love it when john makes dinner

John is recovering steadily, and he has been working and using his foot well. While he spends a little more time at home these days, he has been making us dinner most of the nights!

He makes yummy dinners!

Sometimes he makes rice, and we'll make some Taiwanese sausages with garlic, and "tomato eggs." Other times he will make rotisserie chicken thighs and we'll have that with kimchi or other Asian pickles. Still other times we will have noodles with yummy sauces, or curry. I can go on and on with this!

Even though we don't change our dinner menus super often, John did try some new items for our dinner table sometimes.

The other day he made us pork tenderloin with rosemary. He also put in some special ham in the tenderloin. Tasty.




And another day he made us a chicken-mash-biscuit bake. It was with chicken soup, mash potatoes, and biscuits.



I love cooking, and I also love it when John makes us dinner. These days we close the caffe at 6pm, and therefore we have a little more time preparing and cooking food. I love it!

curry udon with roasted chicken

I have been loving and eating Japanese curry these days. I brought back a big bag of curry flakes from Tokyo and just barely opened it about a month ago. It's like the curry squares that come in small boxes, but shaved into little flakes!

These little flakes are amazing! They melt and mix in with whatever I'm making and delicious curry is simple and convenient to make.

I've also found a lazy way of making curry noodles.

I boil the noodles for the desired time, and instead of straining them after they are done, I pour out excessive water (while the noodles are still in the pot and save some water,) and add the curry flakes to make curry sauce or soup right in the same pot.

The other night John made some rotisserie chicken thighs (marinated the chicken thigh pieces with a little bit of olive oil, chopped garlic, soy sauce, and rice wine,) so we placed the chicken on top of the curry udon noodles. Very tasty!


and of course there had to be some shichimi on the noodles!

tofu knots and chicken

I may have said this too many times, but I love my slow cooker! It's so convenient to use, and the food (almost) always comes out perfect.

Sometimes I use different spices and ingredients to flavor the food I'm cooking, and other times I use ready-made sauces just because it's super easy to do.

I made some "tofu knots" with chicken thighs in my slow cooker the other day with Lee Kum Kee's Korean Barbeque Sauce. They are so delicious!

"Tofu knots" are made of tofu skin, and tied into knots. They usually come in dry form, and you just have to soak it in water for a couple minutes before using them.



I place 6-8 chicken thighs and soaked tofu knots in the slow cooker, pour in about 1/2 cup of the Korean Barbeque Sauce, 1/4 cup sesame oil, 2 chopped green onions, and enough water to cover most of the food ingredients. That's it! Cook the food on high for about 4 hours and the chicken and tofu knots are ready to go on rice. I also use the cooked sauce for noodles. Yumminess.

I *heart* slow cookers.

chicken meatballs with corn

I made some chicken meatballs with corn the other day. They were fun and yummy.



Chicken Meatballs with Corn

2 lbs. chicken breasts
3/4 C. potato starch
1/4 C. sugar
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. salt
1 Tbs. sesame oil
1 Tbs. soy sauce
1/3 C. vegetable oil
1 C. hot water
1 can of corn

First grind the chicken breasts in the food processor to make a chicken "paste."

In the mixing bowl of the mixer, place all ingredients except for the hot water and corn. Mix on medium-low until well blended.

After everything seems all mixed together, pour in a cup of hot water and continue mixing for another minute or two, then add the can of corn and mix well.

Boil a pot of water, or get the fryer ready.

With your left hand, grab some chicken mixture and "squeeze" it through your thumb and index finger. With a spoon in your right hand, "scrape" the slightly formed meatball off and cook it in the boiling water (or prepared frying oil if you prefer.)

Boil and cook the meatballs for about 15 minutes (until cooked.) Cool the strained meatballs and store in a tupperware container in the fridge or freezer bags in the freezer.


OK mine don't look very meatball-y or pretty, but they were yummy!

I use these meatballs in soups and stir-fry dishes (slice first). If you choose to fry the meatballs instead of boiling them, they'd turn out sort of like tempura balls and are sometimes even tastier than the boiled ones. You can use them in all sorts of dishes.

Hmm... chicken meatballs.

black pepper chicken

I made some black pepper chicken in the crock pot. It was really simple. I placed three each of chicken thighs, drumsticks, and wings in the crock pot, and then mixed in 1/4 black pepper sauce (Lee Kum Kee brand, from the Asian market), 1/4 soy sauce, and about 1 1/2 cups water. I then cooked the chicken on high for about 5 hours (4 hours would probably had been enough, but I didn't get home until about 5 hours later!)



The sauce turned out very well. John and I had the chicken and a little bit sauce with rice, and later I had some noodles with the sauce as well. Yumminess.

chicken with shitake mushroom soup

Both John and I are a bit under the weather... I think we mught have caught something on the plane coming back.

And then I remember reading about how chicken soup is scientifically proven to make people not just feel better, but BE better, so I made a simple chicken with shitake mushroom soup that my mom always made back in Taiwan.


I made in the slow-cooker (crock pot).

It's a simplified version... but I only put in chicken drumsticks and soaked shitake mushrooms. I know many people who'd also put in fresh sliced ginger... which I didn't have in hand. The ginger would make the soup even better, I believe. I did save the water where I soak the mushrooms in and use it for the "base" of the stock.

I let the soup cook on high for about 4 hours, and then added salt and a dashi seasoning to taste.


I also cook some noodles to go with the soup.


With some fresh ground black pepper this noodle soup was a nice meal for those who has a cold.

I think I'm feeling better already!

root beer chicken wings

I made some root beer chicken wings and eggs. They were so delicious! We only had diet root beer at home, so that what I used in the recipe. I had always only used Coke to cook before, but I guess now I can use root beer in my recipes, too.



Root Beer Chicken

14 chicken wings
8 boiled eggs
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 sake/rice wine
1/2 cup water
1 can root beer (or diet)
1 small pack of Chinese spices (optional)
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1 tablespoon grated ginger
1 tablespoon dried chives
8 dried hot peppers (optional)

It's simple. I put everything in the slow cooker (crock pot) and cook on high for 4 hours and the chicken and eggs were ready. They were delicious. Since I put 8 dried hot peppers in with the recipe, the wings and eggs were spicy... and spicy good! You can leave out the hot peppers if you don't want your wings and eggs to be spicy.

The wings and eggs were really yummy after they were chilled, too. mmmmm.

cherry coke chicken

I made some Cherry Coke chicken in my slow cooker (crock pot) this weekend. Actually it's Cherry Coke Zero chicken because that was what I used in the recipe.

I almost forgot to make it, so in order to cut down the cooking time, I boiled the chicken drumsticks in water with a little bit of sake (rice wine) prior to putting them into the slow cooker. It worked very well this way. :)


This is what went into the pot: drumsticks, 1 can of Chrry Coke Zero, 1 cup soy sauce, 1 cup water, 1 tablespoon dry chopped chives, 1 tablespoon chopped garlic, 6 dry Asian red hot pepper, and about 2 tablespoons "rock candy" (the semi-transparant little cubes in the photo) or sugar.


I cooked these drumsticks in the slow cooker on high for just under 4 hours. They turned out very tender, flavorful, and delicious!

Usually the Coke chicken calls for regular Coke, but since we only had Cherry Coke Zero at home, that was what I used. The dish turned out great!